Sisterband Chronicles
by DrtyDiva
Summary: Kiya Starfollower wants to be a seawolf like her mother, but girls are not allowed to go into brotherband training. They cook and clean and keep the home fires burning for their warriors. Will the half Skandian, half Ifranian girl make in the all male world? Will she be accepted and will she make it through to the other side?
1. There and Back Again

Kiya leaned back with her elbows in the sand. The day was bright and the sun was hot. Exactly the sort of day that Kiya liked. The waves were lapping up onto the sand in a lazy pattern. Normally she loved the crashing breaks, but today was more about the wind than the waves. She was testing a new sail for her wave board, but right now she just wanted to bask in the sunlight. She leaned up rub some more cream on her legs. Though she was half Ifranian and Skandian she was prone to sunburn. Her dark skin offered no protection whatsoever.

If her father gave into her request she wasn't sure when the next time she would be able to simply relax in the sun. A smile skipped across her face. Her father had never been able to deny her anything. Not that she was spoiled or a brat about anything. She rarely asked for anything save money to buy wood and the occasional bag of rock candy.

She felt the wind crawling up her back and whipping her hair around her head. "Nice," she smiled jumping to her feet and grabbing her new wave board. Unlike many of her countrymen Kiya was an excellent swimmer. Thanks in no part to her father. Kiya was always surprised that though Skandians were by far the best seamen in the world only a handful of them could actually swim.

She ran into the water with her board tucked under her arm. The wind started to pick up as she dove into the water. The stinging temperature caused her muscles to file a vigorous protest, but she kept paddling. They needed to get with the program because she wasn't stopping. This was going to be the only time she got to test her board before they had to leave for Hallsholm.

**~~X~~**

Ajon stood on the porch of his simple home and gazed out at the view. He could see his daughter out on the water wave riding. Her sail had worked. Of course he knew it would. His daughter had one of the best minds he had ever come across. And his father had been a shaman in his village. Maybe that was where she got it from, he mused. His chest swelled with pride as he watched her work. She skipped her board from one wave to the next as the wind caught the sail.

His daughter, Kiya, was the light of his life. Her curly black hair was blowing in the breeze as she surfed back up onto the sand. She shook herself off like a cat and caught her hair up in her fist before binding it with a yellow leather band. A birthday present from him a few years back. She never liked to braid her like the other Skandian girls. Though he didn't doubt that Kiya didn't fancy herself a real Skandian.

He sighed and walked back into the house to prepare dinner. He didn't think that cooking was simply a women's past time. He rather enjoyed the simple pleasures of cooking, and it helped that it was just him and Kiya. He could have taken another wife as a freeman, but no one could replace his wife, Lupa. She had been a dragon flower among lilies. The bread was nearly done as he went back into the kitchen to finish dinner.

He had tried to work, but thoughts of his daughter kept clouding his judgement and jewelry making required a steady hand. What she asked of him was impossible, but yet he could not deny her. He never could. His daughter wanted to be just like her mother. It made his heart squeeze to think of his daughter aboard a woflship, but she was just like her mother. Though she was slight of build she was as strong as an ox and witty as a fox.

If his daughter wanted to join the brotherband training who was he to deny her? But would the Oberjarl deny his daughter the chance to become a seawolf? Sure his wife had been a skirl on a wolfship, but she was a rouge and her entire crew were rouges who couldn't find work on any other woflship and thus had fallen under the command of a female.

"Hello father," Kiya called as she walked into the house. Ajon turned toward his daughter as he finished gutting the fish he was holding onto. She leaned her wave board up against the wall next to the door. Katrina was as brown as a cocoanut as she walked properly into the house. The light bounced off her skin and made her look like polished wood. She spent all her waking moments outside in the sun. Either wave riding or down at the bottom of the gully hunting for pearls or fishing. She was his best worker.

"Hello daughter mine." He finished with the fish in his hand before moving on to the next one. He was making his famed fish pie for dinner. A meal that he knew Kiya would enjoy and remember if she was accepted into the brotherband training.

He thought back to his own limited childhood. He was a mere boy when he was kidnapped during a raid on his seaside city, but he still remembered his home as if he had simply walked away yesterday. His mother had been a fierce warrior after the goddess Oya. Proud and beautiful his mother had been courted by men far and wide. Yet she allowed a gentle shaman to win her hand. His father wise and meek kept the home fires burning as his mother defended the tribe. Ajon had a thought to be a Ogoun warrior and join his mother in battle, but life had other plans for him as the white devils of the sea attacked their village.

The girls had been hidden away in the tall steppes that ran around the village, so all the young boys who couldn't fight or run fast enough were snatched. Ajon had been neither. He had been captured trying to rescue his friends. His heart squeezed as he thought of the fate that awaited them when the landed in the world of ice and snow.

"Father." Kiya said softly from across the room.

Ajon shook himself from his memories and got back to the business of preparing dinner. "Tomorrow we will journey to see the Oberjarl." He announced. He knew she had been awaiting his answer for weeks now. He had admired her vow to not badger him about his decision. She had posed the question once and then left him to his own devices to work through the problem. Before he could turn around to face him be was knocked back over the sink by his daughter throwing herself at him.

"Oh thank you father. Thank you." She was hanging onto his neck and kissing him ferociously.

He chuckled and set his knife down to embrace his daughter. "Its only half the battle. Erak still has to agree to this. Brotherband training isn't easy and just because they let you train doesn't mean they have to let you graduate." He warned.

"Oh father I doubt my uncle will deny me." Kiya said confidently. Ajon had to chuckle at the authority in her voice. Ajon wasn't so sure. Erak and his wife Lupa hadn't parted on good terms. As the oldest male in the house Erak took his role as protector very seriously and when his baby sister asked to go into brotherband training he had forbade it. Lupa ran away from home and from what Ajon knew had never seen her brother again. Ajon had sent word that she had passed away, but Erak didn't attend the funeral pyre. Ajon wasn't even sure that the Oberjarl knew he had a niece. Ajon certainly never ventured to Hallsholm for anything. He sent his taxes in through the local Jarl.

"Pack up everything you will need for training we leave in the morning." Kiya gave him one last peck on the cheek before skipping away into her bedroom.

They rose bright and early the next morning. They weren't that far from the capital, but they couldn't follow a straight road in. They lived right on the coast of Skandia in the southern part so they had to go further inland to get north to the capital.

Most Skandians were not horse riders, but Ajon being an Ifranian he was born to ride a horse and he taught his daughter well. She road a beautiful chestnut mare while Ajon ride on a proud battle horse that he had bought in Celtica on a business trip. He was told the horse had been bought from a man in Arelaun.

It was a great time for both of them as they chatted and laughed like old friends the entire trip. Ajon had always had a great relationship with his daughter. Many men scoffed that he hadn't taken another wife to have a son, but Kiya was all he ever wanted. In his cultural woman were the power structure and the backbone of society. A firstborn girl was a sign of good luck and prosperity for any man. Ajon thought himself lucky to have had a daughter after the life he had been forced to live in Skandia.

They made great time and only had to stop once for lunch. IT was the leftovers of the fish pie from dinner with a few candied apples. They arrived in the capital city a little after high noon.

Ajon hadn't been to Hallsholm since his wife bought his freedom nearly twenty years ago and riding through the streets did not bring back happy memories. "Are you alright father?" Kiya asked as she sidled up to him on her mare.

He shook his head, "I'm fine." He gave her a tight smile and rode on. Hallsholm was small for a capital city so unlike his homeland that boasted bustling cities that he nearly wept at the sight of the simple pine log buildings. Even his seacoast town had been bigger than Skandia's capital. Maybe after Kiya was in brotherband training he would return home for a bit and try to track down his family.

He had been taken from his home during a unplanned fishing trip with two of his best friends. He had been barely seven years old when the burly seawolf had snatched him up by the scruff of his neck and stole him from the only home he had known.

It was a exercise to put himself into the here and now. This was his daughter's time to stake her claim. His time had set. Erak's Great Hall stood smack in the middle of the town and that's where Ajon directed his horse. Many of the towns people backed away from his horse with wide eyes. Ifranians were not common in Skandia and no doubt people were whispering about his intentions.

They tied their horses in the stockade. He watched Kiya as she looked around trying to take in everything. He knew she was trying to picture her mother running through the streets with her brown plaits flying behind her. Same as he was. He couldn't see how the town had been able to contain Lupa for the few years that it had.

Somehow he couldn't see his wife hustling around with a pail of water or a broom in her hand. Lupa had never been the domestic sort of woman. Lupa had been every much one of the boys as his brother in law seemed to be. Well from the stories he heard about the man.

They walked across the hard packed earth into the Great Hall of the Oberjarl. It was the middle of the day and the middle of tax season so angry jarls and skirls were coming and going from the Great Hall with rapid frequency. One nearly bowled Kiya over, but she leapt out of the way just in time.

"Mind where you step girl." The seawolf snarled. He was not a man that suffered the likes of women. Especially when they weren't cowering in a corner away from him, and this little jumped up girl had better learn her place before he taught it to her.

"Mind where you step." Kiya shot back. She saw her father turn with a horrified look on his face. Her father grabbed her elbow and yanked her out of the line of fire before she got into a fight.

"Kiya mind your tongue. Getting into a fight in the Oberjarl's house will not endear you to him." He whispered. He knew Kiya had a warrior's spirit, and she wasn't one to be pushed around by anyone, but she had to start learning some restraint. She was smart enough to see her father's logic as they were ushered into the dining hall. He couldn't remember the last time he had to scold her.

The hilfsman, Borsa, as Ajon remembered, stopped them in their tracks. "What business have you with the Oberjarl?" He asked.

"I am Ajon freeman and husband of Lupa Starfollower. I have a matter to discuss only with the Oberjarl." At his announcement it seemed all activity in the dining hall stopped. Borsa's face burst into a brilliant shade of purple and then red.

"Excuse me," he stammer as he tried to run down the length of the dining hall toward the Oberjarl. Once he reached Erak he had a very heated discussion with him. Erak stood up from his chair. Kiya shrank back behind her father. Her uncle was a massive man. Maybe the biggest Skandian man she had ever seen. His beard was covering the entire lower half of his face and his mouth was open in the most curious little 'O' that almost erased Kiya's fear.

Erak footsteps rang out in the hall as he walked down the length toward Kiya and her father. Ajon squared his shoulders and stood tall and proud as the Oberjarl approached. He stopped short when he was but a breath away from her father. Kiya saw the family resemblance immediately. Her mother's nobel nose was larger than life on her uncles face as well as her twinkling eyes. Though on Erak they looked menacing.

"I wanted to make her funeral," Erak said as a way of greeting. His voice was deep and rumbled like rocks falling into the sea. "I was away on state business." He said softly holding out his hand for Ajon to shake. The men grasped hands and after a heartbeat Erak pulled Ajon in for a hug. The tension in the dining hall evaporated and Kiya relaxed. From the stories her mother told her Erak had a fearsome temper and the battleax skills to back it up. She had been expecting to be tossed out on their ears.

"Oberjarl." Ajon said once both men let go. Both of them blinked away tears. "This is Kiya. Lupa's daughter." He pushed Kiya forward gently. Erak rocked back on his heels as if struck and blinked down at Kiya.

She stared up at her uncle as he stared down at her. His big hand touched a piece of her hair that has come a loose from her leather band. "My sister lives in you." He said gathering Kiya up in a bear hug. Kiya felt the breath being squeezed from her lungs but she was't going to tell him to let go. "Prepare a banquet tonight for my niece Kiya Starfollower." He bellowed. The sound made Kiya's ears ring as she was right by his mouth when he spoke. He set her down gently. Tears were stinging her eyes. This was the homecoming she had dreamed about but never dared to give voice to.

Erak leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before laying his heavy hand on Ajon's shoulder. "Come brother let's drink." The other seawolves in the room growled their approval. Kiya was dismissed to go off and let the menfolk do what they did best. She had a sour face at this, but Ajon was firm. As tough as she was Kiya was still a child and there were things that children just shouldn't be a party too, and a rough and tumble crowd of drunken seawolves was one of them.

The rest of lunch was a blur of names and faces that Ajon was going to struggle to remember, but it felt good to be accepted without

Ajon sat in the private quarters of his brother-in-law. He never thought Erak would have welcomed them with open arms. Lupa had said the last time she had seen Erak he was swinging his battleax and hurling curses. From what he heard around town Erak and his battleax were something to be feared.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Erak asked sitting down in the scrubbed table and chairs that dominated the room. A dainty chandelier took up most of the table, but Ajon was sitting facing the Oberjarl.

"Lupa asked me not to," He said softly. Erak's face darkened. "You hadn't seen your sister in nearly twenty years and your parting was not a joyous one. She was scared you were still mad and would turn Kiya away. And she is after all my daughter." Ajon added. Skandians were not the friendliest folks when it came to outsiders and half-breeds like Kiya. Especially since he was a former slave.

"So why come now?" He pushed out.

Ajon took a deep breath. "Kiya is her mam's daughter Erak. She wants to start brotherband training." He flinched back waiting for the cursing and ax flinging to start.

Erak leaned back in his chair and stared at Ajon he opened his mouth as if to stay something, but closed it before the thought escaped. He pushed his massive frame out of his chair and started to pace around the room. His shadow danced across the wall. Ajon allowed him the reprieve to think.

"If you has asked me this question a few years ago I would have ripped off you head and chained Kiya to my wrist till she married, but over the years I have seen things and learned things. I saw a boy no bigger than this stool take down an entire army. I saw a girl no bigger than the boy stand during a battle and knock a man senseless with naught but a pebble." He took a deep breath. "If Sigurd will allow it Kiya will go into brotherband training." His heart squeezed as he said this. He feared that she would get her feelings hurt or worse she wouldn't get picked and then her heart would get broken.

Ajon stood, "Lupa would have been proud to call you brother." Both men embraced and hugged it out.

~~X~~

Kiya hadn't liked the dismissive tone of her father. Not at all. She hated being kept out of things. It just wasn't in her nature. And her father had never done it before, but then they weren't home and Skandians did not value their woman as Ifarians like her father did.

Kya wandered around the Great Hall looking for something to do. Most of the girls she saw were scurrying around with work to do. They were ladened with laundry, platters of food or ale or buckets of water. Kiya sighed. This was not the life she wanted for herself. She couldn't live that sort of life. She had the fire of a warrior in her belly and the blood of a seawolf pumping through her veins. Her grandmother had been one of the feistiest warriors in Ifaria. How could Kiya be any less?

She moved out from the Great Wall toward the wharf. Men were coming and going as they moored their wolfships. It was a spectacular dance watching them bring their ships into the harbor. The skirl at the helm barking orders to his men. The men obeying without question, without delay. The trust they had in their skirl was unmatched. It made Kiya's chest swell to think that one day she would command that kind of trust.

Kiya left the harbor and moved inland. She walked along a well worn foot path that lead her up and into the woods. It was a warm day out so up under the canopy of trees the temperature dropped slightly. It had her wishing she had warn her cowhide jacket. She heard running water and she increased her steps to get back into the sunshine again.

She followed the sound as she nearly stumbled out into a rock cliff that overhung a small gully. The rock face wrapped around the side of the cliff creating a natural harbor. Kiya sat down and hung her feet over the side of the cliff and watched the birds dive bombing for fish. It wasn't the way she wanted to spend her afternoon but it was better than watching the womenfolk go about their boring lives.

Kiya sat up as she spotted a ship on the horizon. The bow of the tiny ship kept dipping too low in the waves instead of riding on top of the wave. The ship was not built to slice through the waves like normal wolfships were. Kiya jumped to her feet. Who the hell was at the helm? The wind picked up and caught the sails. The ship lurched forward throwing the figure at the tiller off their feet. Kiya couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had never seen such terrible sailing from a Skandian. Even a boy could have stirred a ship better than that. She looked for a way down to the dock. Once she spotted it she raced down.

The ship tried to tack across the waves but the skirl misjudged and once again the ship was tossed back into the mix of froth and water. Kiya wanted to scream. That skirl was going to get everyone killed, and the ship was coming in entirely too fast. They were going to smash into the rocks. "Trim your sails!" she cried waving her arms trying to get anyone's attention. Her heart was pounding in her chest. "Trim your damned sails," she shouted. Someone on deck was pointing out at her. "The sails! Trim them!" If they didn't listen they were going to pass the point of no return. Someone on deck was scrambling to yank at the yardarm. Kiya was about the throw up she was so scared. How in the hell did they get out of the harbor? Finally someone was able to get the sail down and the ship slowed but whoever was at the tiller had no idea what they were doing and they weren't going to be able to pull into the harbor without smashing the boat to bits. "Weight the anchor!" she shouted. The person on the deck waved an arm and soon the anchor dropped down in the water.

Kiya wanted to faint with relief. Once the anchor caught the ship bobbed in the water gentle. Kiya stripped down to her undergarments and jumped into the water to swim out to the ship.

Someone lowered and rope ladder so she could climb up. It took Kiya a minute to climb up the rope and once she did she was ready to tear into the skirl. "You're girls," she blurted as she got a good look at the crew of the ship.

"In case you didn't know you're a girl too." Said one the raven haired oarsmen(girl).

Kiya got over her shock as she rounded on the skirl. "What the hell were you thinking?" she asked. The redhead behind the tiller looked literally green around the gills. "You could have killed everyone on the ship. Why didn't you tack north?" The girl just blinked at her. "Do you even know what you're doing?" Because any seawolf worth their salted pork knew how to sail.

"Leave her alone alright. We were doing good till the wind picked up." Said the other oarmens, a blond. She had a sweet milk maid face and the figure to match.

"It didn't occur to you that the wind is always going to be around if you're out in open sea?" Kiya asked looking at the all female crew. They seemed right shaken with the whole experience. It was a wonder they got the ship out into the open sea. "Do you have any idea of how dangerous sailing is?" They seemed to be play acting at being seawolves. Not surprising. Girl weren't taught how to sail and navigate.

"Its my brother's boat and he left for brotherband training so we took it out." A redhead girl spoke up. "Who are you anyways?" she eyed Kiya up and down. No doubt she was wondering just how Kiya knew so much about sailing. She obviously wasn't a Skandian.

"Kiya Starfollower." Kiya said proudly.

"You're related to the Oberjarl?" The skirl finally asked as she gathered herself.

"He's my uncle." They looked like they didn't believe her but then if she were an outsider how would she knew who the Oberjarl was to invoke his name and let alone his family name to use it correctly.

"You can sail?" Asked the redhead oarsmen.

"My mom was a seawolf she taught me. She was skirl of the Wolfstorm." Kiya announced. The girls all looked at her with wide eyes.

"No lie?" asked the redheaded boat owner.

Kiya laughed. "If I were going to lie I would think of something better to say." She smiled at all of them. "Mind if I bring her in?" she asked turning to the skirl.

The girl stepped aside. Kiya nodded. "Alright ladies. Raise the sail and drop the oars." The girls looked at her as if she were speaking Pictan. "Move it." she bellowed. The girls jumped into action. She pointed to a blond girl with her pigtails coiled up around her ears. "Raise the anchor." she girl bobbed her head and ran off. The boat turned and pointed straight at the dock. Under oars it wasn't moving as fast as the ship could go. "Trim the sails," Kiya ordered as she turned the tiller running the ship parallel with the dock. They came in slow and easy with the waves pushing them into the dock.

The ship bumped into the dock gently, and Kiya smiled. "That ladies is how you handle a ship." She announced proudly. The lowered the gangplank and everyone climbed off. Kiya retrieved her clothes.

They spent the day on the cliff watching the tide and gossiping like the girls they were. Kiya got to know all the girls. They were a friendly bunch who were of the same mind as Kiya. They knew there was something bigger and better beyond their mam's kitchens and they wanted it as badly as Kiya did. Herdis, the redhead had been at the tiller. Bera, the blond and Halldora, the raven were the oarsmen. Dalla, the blond with the coiled plaits has lifted the anchor. Freya had been acting as first mate, Torfa and Finna had seemed to just be standing around taking up deck space.

Kiya told them that she was trying to get into brotherband training which shocked them all down to their plaits.

"Will the Oberjarl really let you train?" Freya asked.

Kiya looked at her new friend, "I'm not sure but if my father can get him to agree I'm going." she knew her father would argue for her tooth and nail.

"Well the Oberjarl let us into brotherband training too?" Herdis spoke up. The girl was too soft spoken to make a good skirl and Kiya wondered how she had been elected the leader.

Kiya looked into the faces of all her new friends. "If I can do it I will get it done. Wait for my my the stockyard after the feast." she told them. They all nodded and broke up. Most of the girls had to get back home and get on with the womenly chores before their mams got after them.

Kiya skipped back to the Great Hall feeling great at having made some new friends and possibly a new crew.


	2. No Girls Allowed

The sun was just setting and the feast was getting ready to start. Kiya ran through the Great Hall looking for her father. She knew once the feast started she wasn't going to get a chance to talk to her father alone.

Servants were hustling to and fro with ale and platters of food. Kiya had to leap out of the way several times to avoid getting run through with a barrel. She found her father in the weapons room running his hands over a polished battleax. "Are you any good with that?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

Her father turned around to smile at her, "I am more hand with a dirk and a spear than a battleax." He told her. Kiya nodded. She didn't have the upper body strength to wield a battleax, but she was damned handy with a dirk as well. Even a bow though it wasn't a principle Skandian weapon.

"Father I know that you have done more for me in coming back to Halsholm than I can ever repay you for, but I would ask one more thing of you." She closed to the door to the weapons room. She didn't want to be overheard. Her father stopped fiddling with the ax and gave her his full attention. Under the gaze of his deep brown eyes Kiya felt like she were on display. "Today I met a wolfship out on the bay. It was crewed by girls." Her father nearly overturned a rack full of arrows in his shock. "Father," She cried reaching out to steady him.

He waved away her help as he steadied himself. "Please continue Kiya." He knew where this was going, but he indicated he wanted to hear his daughter through to her inquiry.

"I would ask if they be allowed into brotherband training as well. I would be remiss if I did not open the way for all girls to be in the training." After all Kiya did not want to be the only female seawolf. Kiya knew that she was not the only anomaly of the Skandian people. Neither was her mother. There were other girls that longed for the freedom of the open sea as much as their male counterparts did.

Kiya watched her father's face. She saw the emotions flickering back and forth. He was a man that came from a long line of warrior women, and even in his tribe the women were the rulers, but he was also a man that had no home to go to if he burned his bridges in Skandia. "I have already spoken with the Oberjarl on the matter of your brotherband training. He will allow it if the instructors will. So on this I can't not go back to him." He shook his head and held up his hand to forestall his daughters protests. "He is leaving it up to the instructors. They hold your fate in their hands. So tell your friends they will have to plead their case with them. That is all that can be done." It was not the news Kiya wanted to her.

She wanted her father to go back and fight for her. Fight for her new friends, and she opened her mouth to argue with him on this point.

Her mam's voice stopped her, _"Are you a woman or are you a seawolf?"_ her mother used to whisper in her ear. A woman would certainly stand by and let her husband or brother plead her case. She would defer to their wishes and thoughts on any manner to a man. It was her only course of action. But not a seawolf.

A seawolf would swing their battleax till the other party relented or strapped on their weapons for a battle. That was how a seawolf settled any manner and if the other party didn't back down everyone fought till only one was standing or breathing.

Kiya reined in her emotions. "Thank you father," she gave him a quick dip of her head before disappearing back out of the door.

**~~X~~**

Ajon had been worried that his daughter was upset with his answer. It wasn't that he didn't want to fight for her. He would gladly lay down his life just to see her smile, but Kiya was 16 now and she wanted to be a seawolf. It was time to cut the apron strings as the saying went. He was not going to be able to rock her to sleep when lightening struck anymore or a wave knocked her back against the rocks.

She was a woman, and she wanted to be a sealwolf. Kiya had to stand up and be Kiya Starfollower now.

He spent the rest of the day trying to track down old friends that still lived in the town. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Erak had outlawed slavery since he had left. Of course he had heard about the failed invasion attempt. He was of a mind to make the trek back to fight, but Kiya had fallen severely ill that year. When it came down to it his daughter meant more to him than the country who had stolen him from his home.

Something really good had from that failed Temjai invasion. It came too late for two of his friends, but it was still a joyous thing. Many of his friends had went back home in search of long lost families or just to escape the memories of their days as lowly slaves in the hands of harsh taskmasters. He did not blame them. If not for Luna and Kiya he would have gone back home as well. He was sure his sisters were still there. He was the only one that had been taken. Maybe he would travel back home and find them.

As the sun set he made his way back to the Great Hall. He could hear the drinking songs wafting out of the open doors. How he wished his Lupa were alive to be reunited with her brother and see her daughter in brotherband training.

It seemed he was the last to arrive as a second set of kegs and barrels were already being cracked open. "Brother!" Erak boomed standing up at the head of the hall. Ajon smiled and weaved through the swaying and drunken bodies to embrace his brother in law. The clapped each other heartily on the back. Erak showed him to a chair which he accepted gratefully. He hadn't done so much walking in a couple of years.

Kiya had been at the feast and what a night it was. Ajon couldn't help but marvel at how well she was fitting in with the rough seawolves. At first he was going to dismiss her, but he caught himself. If he wanted her to be old enough to make her own life choices he had to let her experience all of life. Not just the parts he wanted her to see. He was glad when she only partook in one mug of ale. Her sun tannned cheeks sported tiny spots of red when she was done. A few of the old wolves toasted her first mug of ale with a few more mugs of their own. But honestly they only needed a reason to grab another drink.

**~~X~~**

She was up at the right crack of dawn. Even her father was still sleeping off the celebration in the room next to hers. She had to giggle at how loud his snoring was. He must have drunk enough to kill a carthorse, she thought to herself. It was too cold to attempt a bath, but she was not going to walk around smelling like a pig. She washed up as best she could. Kiya had to wrestle with her hair to get it into two pigtails down the back of her head. She had never been one to fuss with her hair, but today she wanted to make sure it would stay out of her face during whatever trials they were going to put her through.

She repacked her bag and stood in the middle of her room. This was it. She was embarking on the first leg of the rest of her life. She was going out to make history and realize a dream that her mother had never had the chance to do.

It was a little overwhelming to say the least. Kiya felt the weight of the world on her little shoulders. If she succeed it would open the way for other girls like her to follow their own path. If she failed it would set them back a hundred years.

After shaking herself out of her internal musing she was ready to go. Kiya hefted her pack onto her shoulders kissed her father and headed toward the training ground. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she made the trek. She was the first girl ever to be admitted into Brotherband training. She had managed it even though her mother had not, but her mother had been one of the best captains in Skandia.

The training grounds were on the outskirts of town set into a natural glen in the middle of the forest. She followed the path from the main road. She was one of the first to arrive. There were a few boys milling around joking with each other. Kiya felt a pang in her chest. All these boys would know each other as they grew up together. She was more than a half breed with her Ifranian father and her Skandian mother, she was a stranger as well. And it certainly didn't help that she was several shades darker than even the most tanned Skandian.

Kiya was going to stick out like a sore thumb and she wasn't sure how much that was going to affect her training.

She noticed a dark haired muscular boy standing next to a rather skinny boy with hair the color of straw. The big one nudged the skinny one in the ribs and pointed at her. Both of their mouths flopped open and Kiya hoped it was because they were impressed she made it, or that she was just that pretty. Though she wanted to be taken seriously and not as arm candy. Or a serving wench.

Not only was Kiya simply nervous to be included she was nervous at being picked. This wasn't like those silly games that her and her friends used to play in the town square around the well. This was serious. The brotherbands tended to get put on the same ship and they worked together for life. Her mother's crew had stayed together well after her death. They still birthed near the house and stopped in for meals on occasion. If Kiya wasn't picked this would be over before it even started. If they allowed her to train they wouldn't force her on a team. If she wasn't picked she was screwed.

And Kiya didn't have a back up plan. There was nothing for her in the women's world of things to do in Skandia. Though she could leave Skandia and try her luck elsewhere, but she had no desire to leave home permanently.

She hung in the background not sure of where she should be standing or what she should be doing. A few boys gave her little waves and small smiles. She waved and smiled back hoping they knew she was here for the training and not because she was lost. The largest boy of the lot squinted at her and gave her a bigger wave than the rest. She decided that he was friendly enough to talk to.

She walked over to him for lack of nothing else to occupy her mind save the thoughts of going home with her tail between her legs. "Never seen you before," he commented as he continued to squint at her as though his eyes weren't working properly. Though he was the biggest boy she had ever seen he had a soft and gentle voice. She felt an instant friendship with the giant boy.

"I don't live in Halshom." she told him. He started at the sound of her voice. She guessed she was right about his eyesight. He hadn't seen that she was a girl, and though her breasts were on the small side they were quite visible.

"You're the girl," he breathed. He leaned down till he was eye level with Kiya. He stepped close as if to memorize her face for further study when he was alone with his thoughts.

"I sure hope so or else Gorlog has some explaining to do about the breasts," She shot back. The boy let out a great bark of laughter and Kiya found herself giggling along with him. "I'm Kiya," she held out her hand. The boy grasped her hand and nearly shook her off the ground.

"I'm Ingvar." He kept pumping and Kiya felt like a piece of laundry on washing day once he let go.

"That's an arm you got there Ingvar." She said as she winced when she tried to rotate her shoulder.

The boy blushed and looked down to shuffle his feet. Kiya waited to see if he would say anything."So you're the Oberjarl's niece?" He asked once his face cooled off. "My mam says you're really pretty and that she knew your mam." Kiya's heart started to race. People either loved her mam for the woman that she was or they hated her for running off to become a seawolf like the rest of the boys. "She also said if a girl wants to jump on a ship and act like a boy well then she should have the right to do so. Mam said to look after you like I would my own sister." Ingvar nodded as if he intended to do just that.

Kiya smiled and touched him on the arm. Well at least she would have one male friend in the lot. "Your mam sounds like a queen." she told him. Ingvar's mam sounded like a friend her own mother would have held in high esteem.

Talking with Ingvar she hadn't noticed that the rest of the boys had assembled and a ripple went through the crowd and some of the boys began to notice Kiya. Ingvar had taken up the post behind Kiya with his arms folded.

She started to rub her hands together. If they were keyed up because of one girl they were going to crap their breeches when the other girls showed up. This was certainly going to be a day to remember.

The noise level rose as a hulking figure cut its way through the crowd. She could tell who it was by his shadow. Though she had only met him for the first time yesterday. It was Erak. He smiled and nodded at the boys he knew. He stopped to give Kiya a gentle smile followed by a clap on the back that almost sent her into the dirt. Ingvar was there to steady her. She was going to need to bulk up or something. She didn't know if her body could take anymore Skandian hospitality.

Erak went up and talked with Sigurd, whom Kiya had met at the feast. She was utterly surprised that a man that drained two entire kegs of ale all by himself was standing upright and looking as fresh as a daisy. Seawolves certainly had strong constitutions.

Both men nodded and then took up jobs as statues as the rest of the boys arrived. Kiya tried to catch Erak's eye, but he wouldn't look at her. After his smile and slap as way of greeting he was all business and she was just another recruit in the ranks.

She supposed that he wanted to project objectivity towards her.

"All right already! Stop your squawking and pay attention!" Sigurd bellowed. Kiya winced. No one had really been talking so the shouting served no purpose if you asked her, but maybe Sigurd wanted to establish the pecking order. It seemed these people had one noise level and she was just going to have to get used to it.

She was still standing in Ingvar's shadow and since the sun was just peeking over the horizon she was near freezing. "Kiya Starfollower, come forward!" She nearly jumped out of her skin when he called her name. Trying to hide her blush she threw her shoulders back and marched to the front of the assembled boys.

They parted back away from her like she carried the plague. It was never a good thing to be signaled out by the head instructor. Especially on the first day before anything got started, but she knew what this was about. They didn't.

At barely five feet tall she didn't stand above the raised platform Erak and everyone was standing on but the air of confidence she radiated gave her the stature of a giant. This was her moment and she was not going to let it slip through her fingers nor was she going to be intimidated by anyone nor anything.

"You seek admittance into brotherband training?" Sigurd asked. There was a collective gasp from behind her that she rightly ignored. They might as well have been a marching line of ants right now.

Kiya fixed Sigurd with a piercing gaze. "I would have it so. I want to be a seawolf." she said in a loud clear voice. This was followed by a few catcalls and whistles. She didn't turn her head to give them any credence.

Sigurd however was not used to people not being silent when he was speaking. "You all must really be itching to get brained with my ax." Sigurd growled raising his eyes to the boys grinning like fools behind Kiya. The noise died instantly. Kiya had never heard anyone growl while they were speaking. It was a nice trick that she was going to learn. "Never had a girl before," he said reaching up to stroke the week's worth of stubble on his face. If he hadn't just threatened to brain a pack of idiot boys with his ax the gesture would have seemed almost scholarly.

He turned to the other instructors who shrugged at his questioning look. He was the top dog in this pack and they trusted his judgement on anything, and frankly none of them liked the storm clouds brewing behind the Oberjarl's eyes. It was best to let Sigurd take the lead on this one. And if need be the punishment if he went against what Erak wanted to happen. Sigurd surprised them all. "But I suppose if we got Areluens archers here every spring drinking up all the ale we can have a girl in brotherband training." He nodded.

That was it. Kiya was in. All the passionate arguments she had been going through in her head were for nothing. She was in. She wanted to jump up and down in delight, but she refrained. That would send the wrong message.

She took the tiniest of breaths before stepping off the end of the plank completely. "Would the same go for my friends sir?" she asked.

Sigurd raised an eyebrow and then turned when a low mummer rose up from the back. The row of boys parted for the processional of girls that were making their way to the front.

Erak looked as if he were having the time of his life life as he watched the parade of girls. A smile was plastered on his face as he leaned back against the rail the ran across the back of the platform. He had always regretted how him and his sister left things and if he could take it all back now he would.

He had spent 26 years apart of Lupa because of his stubborness. He was not going to make the same mistake with his niece. If she were strong enough to make it through then she was worthy to be a seawolf. This was the most fun he had had since Will and Halt had left Skandia anyways.

The girls gathered in a loose circle behind Kiya. Bera and Halldora took up positions behind and to the side of Kiya like bodyguards. Invgar stepped back to allow them room.

"Do you ladies think this is the Hallasholm Baking Corner?" Sigurd asked as he folded his arms across his muscled chest.

"If we did Herdis would only burn the kitchen down," Freya spoke up. A few of the less intelligent boys let out nervous snickers. After Sigurd's threat the smart ones weren't ready for the ax treatment.

Sigurd's eyebrow twitched and Kiya thought he was getting ready to yell at all of them. She braced her ears for the onslaught. "Well I suppose if we are going to have one we might as well let the lot of you in." He threw his hands up. He was getting to old for all of this, but if things were going to change he would rather they be on is watch than anyone else.

The girls nearly collapsed with joy. They had coming expecting a fight, a lot of shouting followed by a spirited run through the forest with a gang of battleaxes following them. "Now can I get on with things or does anyone else have something to say?" He glared out at everyone daring them to speak. No one moved. "Good. You girls better understand that no one is going to take it easy on you. You aren't getting any special treatment. You want to play you play like the rest of the boys." The girls didn't expect anything less, but did they know what they were really getting into?

Sigurd went on, "Today you are going to be selected into your brotherbands." He started to pace around the platform. "But first you will select your brotherband leaders. So nominations." He gestured with his hands that the floor was now open for them to speak. No one moved. Maybe they were still stunned that girls were going into the training or maybe they were still scared of Sigurd's ax.

"Tursgud," A voice finally rang out. Kiya looked to the speaker. He was a burly boy that didn't look all together too bright and the boy who's name he had called was scowling at Freya.

Freya blew the boy a raspberry. "That's Freya's brother." Herdis whispered. Kiya nodded at the information.

Sigurd nodded at the nomination. It seemed that it was expected. "Tursgud. Do we have a second?" He demanded.

"Second," another boy shouted.

"All right. Proposed and seconded. Good job Tursgud." The boy looked away from his sister long enough to shrug. It wasn't like he thought for a second that he wasn't going to be picked as one of the leaders.

"Who else?" He asked looking out into the sea of faces.

"Rollond," another voice near the back called. The boy who's name was called looked shocked at his nomination.

"Ok Rollond has been nominated. Is there a second?" Sigurd asked.

"Second!" someone else shouted.

"You two." Sigurd pointed to Rolland and Tursgud. "Stand up here." The boys moved as instructed. "Anyone else?"

"Kiya," Herdis shouted. Though Kiya had been secretly wishing for the chance to be a skirl she didn't want to ask anyone to nominate her, not did she think anyone was going to nominate her. It was one thing to want to be a leader it was another for your followers to want you to lead them. She dipped her head to the fiery redhead.

"Kiya has been nominated. Is there a second?"

"Second." Ingvar called. Kiya turned and smiled at him. She was sure he couldn't see it, but she wanted to do it just the same.

"Kiya stand over there with Rolland." Sigurd said. Kiya walked over to stand next to the taller boy. The boy smiled down at her. Kiya bobbed her head and threw him a smile. Tursgud ignored her completely. Which hurt a little bit but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to getting from boys who felt that she was stealing their thunder.

"Alright anyone else?" Sigurd boomed. Kiya ears were going to be ringing like hell when she finally went to bed. Her father was never a man that had learned the Skandian way of speaking. He was a soft spoken man and Kiya loved him for it.

No one moved and no one spoke. It looked like everyone who was going to be a skirl had been called, but Kiya had counted the number of applicants. There was enough for at least four teams. Someone else was going to need to be picked.

"I nominate Hal," another voice called. Now a few people including Tursgud, laughed. The blond boy she had been peering at when she first arrived tried to shrink into the shadows. He must be Hal, Kiya thought. Though she didn't understand why he didn't want to be nominated.

"Is there a second?" Sigurd asked.

"Second," someone in the back called.

"Hal get up here." Sigurd commanded. Once all of the nominees were lined up in front of the platform Sigurd stepped down to their level. He walked up and down the line peering and glaring at all of them. Hal and Rolland squired under his gaze. Kiya held her head up and looked him square in the eye. Tursgud seemed bored with the whole thing already. Like he knew he was shoo-in for all of this and the process was just an annoyance he had to endure. "Alright you lot pick your teams. Kiya go first." He said.

"Why does the girl get to go first? Thought you said they wouldn't get any special treatment." Tursgud demanded.

Sigurd didn't react at all to Tursgud little outburst. He ignored the boy and motioned for Kiya to make her choice. "Herdis," she said pointing to the tall redhead. Herdis moved to stand behind Kiya. Then Rolland made his pick, then Hal and finally Tursgud. She gathered this was Sigurd's way of making his point that he was in charge.

The choosing went on till everyone was on one group or another. Of course all the girls had been picked by Kiya. She was glad that Invgar had been picked by Hal. Hal seemed like the sort to treat the big guy decently. "Ok now that hand holding is over pick your symbols for your bands." Sigurd pointed to Rollond.

"The wolves." Rollond answered instantly. Sigurd nodded. He pointed at Tusgurd.

"The sharks." He had recovered some of his bravado since his little tantrum. The boys behind him smiled and opted a very sharky look if anyone cared to ask Kiya.

"Oh please," Freya remarked as she rolled her eyes. A few of the girls hide giggles behind their hands. Kiya schooled her face to remain passive.

"Kiya?" Sigurd asked ignoring everyone.

"Vipers." she announced. Best to make it clear that they were something to be weary of. Some of the boys smiled at this but a few of them grew dark looks.

"Ok Hal?" he asked finally.

"Herons." Hal called out. Kiya liked the name though she wasn't a fan or birds. They were vile creatures only fit for a meal if you asked her. She was a game and fish hunter.

"Ok this is the first day of the rest of your life. Take it seriously. All of you. This isn't sound stick ball game that your mam's are going to call you in from. This is real life. These brotherbands you are forming are for life. These skills you learn will serve you till the day you hold your sword to walk into the after life. Now I will leave you in the capable hands of your instructors. Welcome to brotherband training." It was the most words any of them had ever heard Sigurd speak. He glared at them one last time before following Erak off the platform into a well lit and warm tent.

"Well don't stand there looking like blushing brides you got a barracks to build before the rain gets here," one of the instructors growled at the girls. Kiya wondered if all Skandian men had two volumes. Shout and growl.

"Don't eyeball me girl I'm the nice one around here," Gort said giving Kiya a rather wolfish grin.


	3. First Things First

Kiya and her girls followed Gort off into another clearing. She saw that there had been four barrack locations leveled out and she had to smile. Her father had spoken to Erak again it seemed. They had been preparing for the girls to show up, but they had left it up to the girls to actually follow through. Seawolves took what they wanted. Nothing was handed to them.

Kiya filed that away as they got to the clearing. Gort looked up at the clouds and then back at the girls. "You got maybe 3 hours before the rain hits. You cupcakes look like you want comfort. So I suggest you get to it. You have today and tomorrow." He gave them all a wink before shambling back the way they had come.

"Damn does anyone know how to build?" Freya asked. She wasn't a hot house flower like her little sister, but she had never had to build an entire barracks before. And this wasn't a situation where she could flirt with one of her brother's friends and get him to do the work.

However this challenge was right up Kiya's alley. Skandians were masters on the sea, but they were rank amateurs when it came to engineering and building. Ifrians had built great cities of stone and brick across a continent that could swallow up Skanida and spit out its bones.

"Ok first get everything together and lets see what we have." The girls dug through the piles of materials and sorted everything. Kiya could see how it was just enough for a basic building to sleep in. She tapped a slender finger against he chin and she walked around the materials. She turned and looked at her girls. "Ok so we are the first group of girls to be allowed into brotherband training. My mom tried and she didn't even make it. So I propose we do this right. Now we can make a basic room to snore and drool in." A few of the girls thought that was a great idea since the rain clouds were rolling in. "Or we can make something to be proud of." Now everyone was paying attention.

"What do you want us to do?" Herdis didn't need any further convincing about Kiya. The girl was once of the best skirls she had seen and Herdis had been alone in the fact that her father had taken her sailing as soon as she stand upright on the deck, and Herdis was willing to be bet she was the only one other than Kiya who could swim.

"Halldora, Bera, Greta, and Torfa there was a rundown shed a couple miles back there. I want you head there break it down and bring back every scrap of wood back. Dora and Bera run the materials back." The rowgirls nodded and set off at a brisk pace to do Kiya's bidding. Halldora and Bera were the faster of the four she sent off. Greta and Torfa were just pure workhorses. That shed wasn't going to last long under their onslaught. "Dalla and Finna I need post holes." She pointed out four strategic spots. Dalla and Finna nodded and picked up their shovels to start work. She turned to Herdis and Freya. "We are going to build a simple a-frame two story barracks. We can have two sides in wood and two sides in tarp. We can use wax and sap to weatherproof it." She nodded as talked.

"Do we have time for that?" Freya asked. It seemed like a lot of work when all they had to do was build a barrack. No one said it had to be a summer resort or a king's palace.

"If you start moving and quit yapping we do." Kiya gave her a very wolfish grin before she bent down and went to work.

Freya was dubious as to how much work they were going to accomplish. It seemed that Kiya was trying to prove something and if Freya were honest with herself they all had to prove something. It wasn't going to be enough for them to simple say they had what it took to be a brotherband. They had to prove that there was nothing wrong with girls being on a ship. Some Skandians still believed it was bad luck for a woman to even be on the sea. So Freya had to admit that Kiya was right. Tthey needed to knock this out of the well, as the saying went.

It was nearly two hours later when they were lifting up the posts to drop them into the holes that Dalla and Finna had dug. They filled in the holes with pitch to give the posts more stability.

Herdis and Kiya shimmied up the poles to set the floor planks into the grooves that Freya had cut out. With that done the other girls had finally finished demolishing the old shed and transferring the wood back. Kiya separated them into two teams to get the floor paid on the second level and the ground floor. It was take less time if they worked that way, she told them. All the girls were sweaty, but all of them were sporting smiles on their faces. This was what they had wanted their whole lives and they were getting it.

~~X~~

Sigurd, Gort, and Erak stood in the shadows of the trees watching the Vipers at work. "Are you seeing this?" Sigurd asked. He had never in his wildest dreams imagined that a pack of girls would be building a two story structure. Now only that they were putting it up faster than he was sure any of the boys would have if they had had someone showing them how.

"Who is this girl?" Gort asked. They had been impressed by the Herons, but they were being blown away by the Vipers. Kiya looked like a nature as she directed her team. And the girls all seemed to take her direction without question or hesitation.

"A Starfollower." Erak said with a touch of pride in his voice. "Her mother would have made a hell of a seawolf." It just wasn't her time, Erak wanted to add. Skandians were slow to change if ever they did, and the last few years had seen the social and political landscape of the seawolves change dramatically. Thanks to a skinny little slave and his pint sized mentor. Erak felt the changes were for the best. If a girl thought she had to the right stuff to step onto the deck of a ship and command the seas then he was going to let her. He just wished his sister could have been alive to see this day.

"Are they going to get it finished?" Sigurd asked. He was impressed there wasn't a doubt about it, but if Kiya kept thinking she had something to prove she might get herself or her crew into a a dangerous situation just for the sake of guts and glory. He wanted to see if she had judgement as well as guts. That was going to be the real test for Kiya.

The men stayed in the trees as they wanted the girls scramble around like ants laying the flooring down. Kiya showed them how to do a tongue and groove technique that didn't require them to nail the floor down. "Where the hell did she learn how to build like that?" Gort demanded.

"Her father is Ifrian. Those devils have built half of the known world." Sigurd supplied. Very few Skandians had ever sailed that far east, but he had. He had been young and adventurous. Ifria was a land of huge city states. They didn't have a central government like their neighbors. Each city was a nation unto itself. The cities, which they truly were, he was sure could house the entire Skandian nation with room to spar for those Celtic devils. Gabo, the largest of their city states was strung out along the coast and Sigurd had spun himself dizzy trying to take it all in. Their streets were paved with stones large enough to crush a standing Skandian. Helmet and battleax. And the most curious thing was that the women were in charge and they took up arms just like the men. At first Sigurd had laughed at the concept of a female besting him and his battleax.

Until he went to Massa tournament and saw just what an Ifrian female was made of. He hand thanked Gorlog's beard that he hadn't shot his mouth off in the hearing vicinity of one of those muscular females. "Is she going to build a palace?" Gort asked. He just wasn't used to girls in his brotherband training let alone girls building actual houses. They stood for another hour watching the Vipers barracks come together. Erak was bursting at the seams he was so excited to see his niece in her element.

"If you gentlemen will excuse me. I've got a raven to send." Erak nodded to the two trainers before slipping into the shadows and heading back to his Great Hall. He had a stroke of genius and he wanted to get it down on paper before it slipped his mind. He was getting old after all and sometimes it happened that way.

The instructors moved on to check on everyone's progress, but it seemed that none was going to catch the Vipers today.

The Sharks were barely done with getting a basic structure up, but they were giving their lungs a good workout yelling and snapping at each other. Sigurd shook his head as he watched. It was a pitiful start, but it was just the start. There was nothing that he was seeing that told him the Sharks couldn't win the entire thing. They managed to at least string their tarp over two posts to get out of the rain, but if they didn't come up with something more permanent they were going to be sleeping in the mud. He had to hid a smile behind a hand scratching his chin. It would serve that jumped up Tusgurd right. He though a little more of himself than Sigurd would have liked simply because his father was the Maktig. He made a note.

They moved on to the Wolves. They were better off as they at least got their frame to stand up. It was a straightforward barrack. Rollond was only concerned with getting the thing up and praying that it stood up to the onslaught of the weather. He marked down another note.

The Herons were more evenly matched with the Vipers with Hal at the helm so to speak. He noticed that they went with a simple A-frame as well, but again they seemed to only want to get something up so they could get out of the rain. Kiya it seemed had been the only one to look ahead to the days and nights they were going to be spending in the barracks, but then girls were more concerned with their spaces than boys were.

This time it worked to their advantage as Sigurd and Gort agreed that the Vipers had won this round.

~~X~~

They had gotten the floors laid and Kiya sent Halldora and Bera to start building up the walls. She would have preferred to put up wood siding all the way around, but they just didn't have enough wood and the rain was almost overhead. "Torfa and Greta give me a trench about three feet deep and a foot wide. Run it all around the barrack and have it drain downhill. Freya build me about a four foot barrel to catch rainwater." Everyone nodded and went off to their tasks.

The rain was about to start and since they had the structure built they could build the bunk beds under the cover of protection. "Herdis we can run a tarp for the roof." There was no use asking the other girls to climb up that high to do anything. None of them seemed willing to take their feet off the ground or the deck of a ship. It was comical to Kiya but she wasn't going to make fun of any of them. Halldora and Bera looked as if they could break her in half if she pissed them off.

Kiya had just secured her last tarp post when the first rain drop fell on her shoulders. Dora and Bera were almost done with the walls and the trench was complete. She directed Torfa and Greta to help with the walls and she along with everyone else went to work on the bunk beds and other pieces of furniture.

An hour after the rainstorm started everything was nearly finished, well at least the beds were done. So they had somewhere to sleep at least.

Kiya called it a night for everyone so they could get a head start tomorrow. The rain came down hard, but everyone was so tired it didn't make a difference. It was a slow going morning. Especially in a barracks full of girls. No matter how much they wanted to be seawolves none of them wanted to give up being girls. It was a fight to see who would get into the little shower closet Kiya had worked on.

"Bera you cow push on." Finna shouted as she banged on the door. Kiya made a note to write down a shower roster. If they kept up they were going to kill each other. They needn't wait for the training to do them in.

The other girls were lounging around in the little living room they had constructed. Kiya looked at them. "So ladies we need to finish up the walls and the rest of the furniture. That shouldn't take us more than three or four hours. But first things first every morning we start off with stretches and a little exercise." She clapped her hands and smiled at everyone.

Her smile was not returned. "Stretching and exercise?" Freya asked with a raise of her strawberry colored eyebrow.

Kiya popped her hands on her hips and threw off a lot of attitude. "Yes Freya stretching and exercise. Up until now you guys have just been playacting at being seawolves. Now we need to get serious. Other than Halldora and Bera I doubt any of you could swing a battleax. We have to be fit and we have to be strong and that starts today. If you don't like it there's the door." Kiya kept her eyes on Freya's face.

"Ok alright. Don't get your underwear in a wad." She shrugged. Freya was the sort of girl that liked to question everything. Even if it was something she knew she was going to do in the first place before she opened her mouth. It was just her nature to question everything.

"Ok so roll up the tarps let some fresh air in and we can stretch in here before we take a nice little jog." There was no point in going outside before they had to. The ground was nothing but mush anyways.

Kiya led the girls through a series of Ifrian warrior stretches that her father had taught her and which she had done with her mother every single morning. Kiya saw a lot of straining faces and she heard a few groans, but everyone was putting in their best effort. It took them nearly an hour to get through all of the sets that Kiya had. When all of them were in peak physical performance it would only take them half that time. The point was really to get their muscles loosened up for the day's activities and to get oxygenated blood flowing so they could work longer and not get tired as fast.

After everyone bundled up she took them on a quick two mile job. Well as close to two miles as she could guesstimate. For all the mouth Freya flipped she kept up the brisk pace that Kiya had set. Dalla was red faced and sucking air like a drowning man as she tried to keep up. Kiya gave he pace over to Freya and dropped back to run along side the poor girl. Her plaits were limp with sweat and stuck to either side of her face as she ran.

Dalla gave Kiya a weak smile as they huffed up and small hill that ran alongside a cliff with a sea view. Kiya clapped her on the back and ran right with her. They made it back to the barracks with the sun riding hide across the sky. Everyone was sprawled out trying to catch their breath. "Get up and stretch," Kiya warned. Everyone climbed to their feet.

Kiya ignored some of the rude hand gestures she saw.

Once everyone had cooled down she gave them a hour break to eat and wash up. They had the whole day to finish their barracks and after that Kiya wanted to see where everyone was at and how far they were going to have to go to get in top seawolf performance. She didn't doubt that Sigurd and Gort were going to be putting them through their paces, that was a given, but Kiya wanted to know everyone's weaknesses now so it wouldn't be a problem later. The boys had a leg up on them because they had been groomed for a seafaring life since they were squalling babies.

There was another argument for the shower closet. Kiya had to smirk. Skandians had been bathing in little streams and tubs their entire lives, Kiya would have thought they wouldn't have been receptive to something different. If change was going to come it seemed women were the ones that had to bring about that change because her girls were falling head over heels in love with the shower closet. Kiya still couldn't believe that Skandians hadn't discovered the aqueduct system. It would make village life a hell of a lot easier. Especially since they didn't have slaves to order about anymore. And that was one change that Kiya was glad to see go. Kiya never liked some of the looks her father got when they went into town.

"Thinking awfully hard over here." Herdis commented as she tossed Kiya an apple. Kiya snapped it out of the air and took a bite.

"Sorry I was just thinking I might need to make a schedule for the shower closet before someone gets hurt." She took a few more bites.

Herdis nodded and sat next to her. "That might be a good idea. So its obvious you aren't totally Skandian." She said as a way of an opening. Kiya cut her eyes sharply at the tall girl. Herdis threw her hands up. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing I'm just curious. Skandia isn't exactly a tourist trap." She sat down on the step next to her skirl and waited for her to speak.

"My father is Ifrian." She had to chuckle at the confused expression on Herdis' face. She pointed east. "Its somewhere out there in the east. All the people there are really dark. I mean a lot darker than me." She pointed down to her nut brown skin with a little giggle. "In Ifria women run the show. The city states all have warrior queens. My grandmother was a general." She said proudly. "And my mom was a seawolf. I figure I have to become Oberjarl just to stand next to them in the afterlife." Kiya smiled. Herdis returned her smile.

"Ifria sounds like a place I could learn to love." Herdis stood and held out her hand to pull Kiya up.

Kiya took her hand and was surprised at the strength Herdis had. "Well one day we will sail there." She promised. After their short reprieve the girls went about their tasks. The day was warming up to be a hot one despite the chilly morning they had. Kiya was glad they didn't do brotherband training during winter. Those gales off the coast could be murder and the water was beyond ice cold if you were dumb enough to fall in.

Half the girls went to work on the rest of the furniture and two went out to dig privvy holes. It was a job no one really wanted to do but it had to be done. No one fancied running out there and digging a hole when they needed it most.

They worked through the afternoon only stopping for a simple and quick lunch. It was a good thing Kiya was dealing with girls she didn't have to break them of a creeping drinking habit or a tendency to overeat. Girls just didn't burn off the food like boys did. Kiya thought it terribly unfair, but short of an audience of Oya herself there was nothing she could do about hunan anatomy.

After lunch Kiya went through and inspected everything to make sure it would hold. She didn't need anyone getting hurt if they sat in a chair that wouldn't hold up. "Good job girls, but you know this means that we are going to have to keep up this level of work till the end." Everyone nodded. "We are putting a big target on our backs and we need to be prepared for it. You saw some of those faces out there. They don't want us here and they are going to do their best to make this rough. So we have to be tougher and work harder and stick together. Don't let them catch you alone or off guard." Kiya wasn't scared that the boys were try anything sleazy to any of them, but there was no point in tempting fate, was what her mother would have told her. "So for the rest of the day I am going to teach you how to fight like Ifrian warriors." She pulled out her Ifrian longbow and a stave. "These are the principle weapons of Ifrian women. Sure we are Skandians, but first we are girls and I just don't see any of us building up the muscle mass to wield a battleax. Sigurd and Gort will still train us on those weapons and I expect all of you to still work hard, but when its all said and done you are going to be my Ifrian warriors." She nodded to every girl in their own turn.

"This is a long bow." She let each girl get a gander at the chocolate wood bow in her hand. The bow was nearly taller than she was. Colorful feather and intricate etchings decorated the wood from tip to tip. "Each mark," she said lightly touching them with her forefinger, "Is the name of a bested opponent." Ever available inch of the wood was covered in the tiny glyphs. "This was my grandmother's." She told them proudly. One of the good things about Skandians is that they never threw away anything. Whether it was taken from a raid or a slave. Everything had value to them. Kiya was glad the men who took her father form his home didn't destroy the bow.

It was beyond priceless to her.

"This is what you use when your opponent is too far for hand to hand combat. And it saves you the trouble of having to use hand to hand combat." She nicked a arrow from her quiver and find a target some 50 meters away. She could shoot further of course, but she was only showing them what the bow could do.

She took a deep breath, notched her arrow and released it. The arrow leapt away from her faster some of the girls could track it. The arrow smacked into the tree with a meaty twack.

A few of the girls applauded. "Don't Areluans use bows?" Freya asked.

"Where do you think they learned how to shoot." Kiya winked at them. They all shared a laugh. "Learning to shoot takes tremendous practice, but it is beyond helpful when the time comes. As evident by our triumph over those Temujai creeps, but we need more bows for that." She moved on to the stave.

She showed them a few simple and quick stances and blocks. "We will work with this most days till I can find enough bows for us to practice with." She explained. Kiya had carved up simple staves for every girl, but she only had the one bow. She wasn't sure where they could get anymore. Ifria was at least three weeks away. Maybe some old seawolf had a stash of them locked away in his trove. She would ask Sigurd if he could pass the word around for her.

Kiya took the girls through the most basic stances and strikes with the stave. A few of them were naturals. Greta swung her stave like her life depended on it and Kiya knew that someday it might, but she was glad to see the enthusiasm. Torfa and Dalla had the form down they just weren't putting in the effort and they telegraphed their moves a month ahead of time. Herdis was simply butterfingers with her stave. If the fight lasted a mere seven seconds she was the queen of the ring. If it dragged on she was in trouble. Freya was frustrated that she wasn't getting it right off. Bera and Finna were just going to need a lot of work and practice.

Kiya put away her longbow. There was no way they were going to work up to that today. Plus there was no reason to teach them bow work if they didn't have any bows to work with. She took them through the routines hour after hour.

~~X~~

Sigurd and the other instructors stood off in the woods watching the girls. Gort was astonished that they were drilling and training when no one told them they had to, and the best thing was that they were actually training like they should. "Why weren't we letting girls into the training again?" Gort whispered to Sigurd who grunted.

Kiya was a tiny little thing. Easily the smallest of her brotherband, well not easily. She was the smallest, and save for her little budding breasts there wasn't a drop of fat on her body. She was all lean muscle and sculpted skin. She was going to be a beautiful woman one day, but right now she was turning out to be a fierce girl. Her curly hair was plastered to her face as she drilled her girls over and over again. She was relentless and a tough taskmaster. Sigurd had to smile. She corrected mistakes not with a sharp tongue or scathing jab, but with a direct command and simple demonstration.

"Talk to Erak and see if we can get these girls some more bows." Sigurd said nodding as they moved on to look in on the other brotherbands.

~~X~~

It was a long grueling day and Kiya didn't let up on them for a minute. Everyone was covered in a sheen of sweat by the time she called stop. Several girls just dropped where they stood. She knew she had worked them hard, but it was nothing to what she knew they were going to get worked. Kiya rubbed her shoulder as she walked over to the water barrel. It had been a long time since she had spent that much time working with the stave. So it was good practice for her as well as her girls.

They had a light dinner of fruits and bread. Kiya warned them that eating heavy while they were training was only going to land them in the sick bay moaning and crying. Everyone was limping and wincing throughout the entire meal. "Remind me why we picked her to be skirl?" Finna moaned as she winced when she tried to sit down on one of the benches they had built. A few of the girls giggled.

"I can't take it easy on you Finna. Those boys sure won't and I know Sigurd and Gort won't either. I'm doing you a favor believe me." Kiya said rubbing her shoulder as she tried to eat at the same time.

"It's not fair though. You've been training for this longer than we have." Bera grumbled.

Kiya chewed her apple thoughtfully. "That's true Bera, but then so have the boys. So what is the difference?" She looked at the beefy girl. Bera's clear blue eyes took on a pensive veil as she tried to work out the logic of Kiya's statement. "Look we are all girls here, so we know first hand that life is not fair. I'm the child of a former slave. Do you think life has been a bed a roses for me just because my dad thinks girls can do anything they damned to do? Do you think my mom had an easy life just because she ran off and became the skirl of her own? People tried to kill her just for walking on the deck of a wolfship." She hadn't meant to get anger but the venom in her voice caused a few of the girls to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

Kiya took a few breaths before she continued. "I don't know what fairy tale you think you've walked into but life is not fair and its not going to be easy. We are blazing a trail here and its going to be a bumpy ride. If I'm being hard on you and pushing you beyond your limits its because I know they aren't going to to be any nicer." It was the longest speech Kiya had ever given, but she felt ever word of what she said.

No one said anything for a long time. None of the girls would look Kiya in the eye. Herdis stood up. "Ok ladies hunker down and get a good nights sleep. I believe that hard stuff starts tomorrow." That seemed to have broken the spell.

Everyone nodded and went off to claim their beds.


	4. Now the Hard Stuff

Kiya lay awake in her bunk longer than she wanted to. She knew they were going to wake them up at the crack of dawn but still sleep toyed with her. She tossed and turned in her bunk, but still sleep was tap dancing away from her. "You are too hard on them." a voice whispered. Kiya turned over and nearly fell out of her bunk in fright.

Herdis was barely a eyelash away from her face.

"Gorlog's toenails Herdis," she hissed holding on to her chest to still her racing heart.

"Sorry," Herdis hadn't meant to startle her skirl. She just had the uncanny ability to tread softer than anyone else. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to do it, but she did.

After a few moments to make sure her light dinner was indeed going to stay down. "What do you mean?" Kiya asked in response to Herdis' statement.

"You have to understand that we didn't have the benefit of having a father who told us we could do anything. Sure my mam let me play seawolf and captive with my little brother, but she knew where to draw the line with playacting." Herdis stopped to gather the rest of her thoughts. "Life in Hallsholm has changed, and for the better. No more slavery, respectable seawolves who protect people on the seas instead of raiding them, but still girls aren't supposed to leave the kitchen unless we are bringing more ale to our husbands. So this is all new to us." She flip her hand out to include their brotherband cabin. "You saw how horrible we were at real sailing. That was not a performance. Just remember that." It was the most Herdis had ever said at one time and the sheen of sweat on her face was evident.

Kiya rolled onto her back and stared up at the planks of wood they used for the roof. "I'm sorry." Kiya finally said. She really hadn't meant to be so hard on the girls, but she was not going to take it easy on them. "I really am. I don't want to be a leader who controls through fear and subjugation, but Herdis I won't coddle them. Sigurd, Gort and Erak might be on board for this, but the rest of Skandia won't be and the rest of the world sure as hell won't like it. So they are going to have to toughen up, but I will work on my delivery." She said. No use being a skirl if your crew hated you.

Herdis nodded, "Well then goodnight ma'am." She gave Kiya a quick smile and disappeared back to her own bunk.

**~~X~~**

Gort hefted a smile on his face. Today was the real start of brotherband training. He lived for it. He wasn't too old to still get out on the water and strike fear into the hearts of anyone, but since Erak had suspended all raiding it was a better job being a brotherband training than most of sea dogs had now. And though he didn't show it he liked training the next generation of wolves. He had gotten the best training so he felt it only right that he payed it forward.

The sun was a long ways off and truth be told he knew many of the trainees had just gotten to sleep. Especially the sharks. They had just finished their little shack was the best word he could think of. A stiff wind was going to blow it down next week he was sure.

He walked into the girl's barracks and had a good snoop around. It was wonderfully constructed if not studier than the trainers barracks. The bottom floor was just a basic open air room with a small little kitchen area off to the back. He had seen a rainwater drum off the back of the barrack. The collected rainwater could be piped into a simple basin and used for drinking or washing up. HE had seen something similar at Karina eating house. Maybe it was a girly thing to have piped water, he thought as he moved through the cabin. There was a dining room with a scrubbed table. The table was tall enough for someone to sit on the ground and belly up to the table. They didn't have enough wood for a proper table and chairs, but it was a good use of materials. It gave them someone where to gather and put their plates, and that was something at least.

In what he thought was their living room they had three low benches and two sturdy chairs. A circular fire pit was built into the corner furtherest from the door. The embers had been banked for the night.

He frowned when he made his way over to the place where stairs should have been. It was a gaping hole with a bloody ladder. Gort wasn't an old man, but he very well knew his limitations and running up and down a ladder was certainly one of his limitations. As his wife liked to call them.

He squared his shoulders, pulled in enough air to keep several men for drowning, "GET UP YOU LAZY SLAGS!" He bellowed as he beat against his Celtic shield with his battleax. Even his ears popped at the sound. That should get them moving, he thought to himself.

He heard someone roll over and hit the floor, then a string of curses from a few voices.

That made him happy enough to almost forget the damned ladder. "Ten minutes to roll call. Move it cupcakes!" He barked before walking back up to the training ground. He wasn't going to tell them twice.

A large open-sided dining hall had been erected with four long tables nestled inside. Other than the Herons, the Vipers were second to arrive. There was fresh bread, hot and greasy bacon, fried eggs and tea and coffee. Kiya eyed the selections. Of course they needed protein. They were going to be doing a lot of work, but eggs and bacon would not have been her first choice, but after the talk with Herdis she wasn't going to say anything to the girls.

She was going to start to introduce a healthier diet for her girls. Girls naturally put on weight faster than boys and all the grease and fat they were eating would blow them all up like pufferfish.

The Herons seemed in high spirits and Kiya traded a sly smile with Hal and Stig before the other brotherbands trooped into the tent. They were water logged and walking stiffly. Hal was cute enough but his plain face was easily forgettable, but Stig was certainly worth paying attention too. However Kiya's eyes quickly found Rolland and her face flushed as she caught him looking at her.

They both looked away.

"If you would have asked I would have given you my blankie," Freya teased as her brother sat down with a groan. Everyone laughed, even some Sharks. Tusgurd's face blazed with embarrassment. She winked at him before returning back to her bacon and egg sandwich.

The Vipers finished before anyone else and Sigurd called them over as they dropped off their dishes in a cauldron of hot water. Sigurd handed Kiya a pile of parchment sheets. "Here are the tasks that you'll have to perform over the next two months. Don't bother trying to memorize the order. There isn't one. And there isn't a timetable. You could perform them today, tomorrow or three weeks from now. So just stay ready. Brotherbands have to compete in every event. Any team that whines is disqualified. Are we clear?" He asked.

The girls nodded. "In between these events we will be assessing your skills and teaching you as well, but as it stands you have already had your first assessment." Sigurd told them.

The girls blinked at him. "When?" Kiya asked.

"Building your living quarters. You got high marks for it. The Herons did a good job, you lot did the best job." He gave the girls a rare smile. Kiya was feeling immensely proud at the compliment. "Don't get cocky we've got a long way to go. Head back up to your quarters and get your kits ready. Be back on the training grounds in twenty minutes with any weapons you have." The girls nodded.

The got ready and moved back up to the barracks.

"Ok lets get a move on. This isn't the wet nurse station. You've got one minute left to finish up, and if I were any of you I would go have a look see at what the Vipers, a bunch of girls, were able to construct in the same amount of time it took most of you to roll up a blanket and pray for clear skies. They have already gotten assessment points." He gave them all a wolfish smile before strolling off back to the command tent.

Many a mouth flopped open at Sigurd's announcement and Kiya could help the little sway in her hips as they made it back to their barracks. She wanted to keep the guys chasing her brotherband. She had something to prove and she was going to get it done if she had to roll over every single guy on that field. Even if they had a cocky smile and a smarting of freckles across the bridge of their noses.

It took a little longer than Kiya would have liked to get their living quarters straightened out. There were combs and ribbons scattered all over the place. How the girls had scattered their belongings that far and wide in a single night was beyond Kiya. She had never had a sister and she didn't hang out with the girls in her village. She was more a boy's girl so living with a bunch of girls was all Pictan to her.

She did a walk through inspection. She had to reteach a few girls how to roll up their beddings. "Ok ladies gather up your weapons and lets head back to the training grounds." Kiya slung her bow across her shoulder along with her quiver and she grabbed her stave. Most of the girls had small dirks and daggers, but all of them grabbed their staves as well.

"Ok let's move out. Herdis lead the way." Kiya called. The girls fell into a line and marched out of the barracks and back to the training ground. They were the second to arrive after the Herons. Kiya was annoyed that they had beat them there again. She was going to have to remedy that. She wasn't going to settle for second best.

Gort walked over to them eyeing all of them. "Glad you ladies could get your hair in order in time to show up." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Kiya had had half a mind to simply chop off all of her hair it was in such a state. Water and her father's hair was not a match made in heaven it seemed. She was sporting a tangled mass of curly brown hair on top of her head. It was all she and Herdis could do to get it arranged in a somewhat manageable fashion. In all the excitement of getting the barracks up Kiya had completely forgotten to braid up her hair. She would not be forgetting to do that in the future.

She was silently fuming at herself. The first day of training and she looked like some sort of urchin. It didn't help that Gort kept making fun of them for fussing with their hair. She might cut off all her hair if it kept up.

"We will hand out your weapons to you, but let's see what you got." He said. He walked up and down the line looking at the staves that he had seen the girls training with yesterday. They were beautifully carved weapons with good balance. They weren't lightweight children's toys either. He eyed Kiya's bow. "You any good with that toy?" He asked.

Kiya bristled at his tone, but she fought it down. Her father always told her to learn to reel in her temper. She took her bow off her shoulder and notched an arrow. Gort gestured to a pair of man shaped dummies stuck in the ground a few meters away. Kiya sighted them and choose the one furtherest away. If Gort wanted to see how good she was she going to show him just that.

Plus she was still smarting about the hair remark.

She notched one of the long shafted Ifrian arrows. The heads were broader than the standard arrows. Which made for maximum kill shots and blood loss. The Ifrians played to win at all times in all situations. She stepped into her stance and cleared her mind. She drew back on the bow and took a deep breath.

The arrow whistled through the air. Everyone turned to look. It hit the target with a meaty twack. It knocked the dummy over onto the ground.

Gort was momentarily stunned at the precision. "That sir is how a girl shots," Kiya said slyly as she stepped back into line.

Gort glared at her before speaking again. "Ifrians use longbows?" He asked.

Kiya nodded, "Its one of their chief weapons." she answered.

"Its a cute weapon, but can you use it on a moving wolfship?" Maybe that would stump her, he mused.

"I learned how to shoot on my mom's wolfship." she fired back.

That got Gort moving on to inspect the rest of the girls. Kiya had to hid her smile.

The boys had been given weapons by their parents. Many of them were fine pieces of craftsmanship. Though some of the boys who didn't have parents with deep pockets were carrying castaway axes and

improvised clubs. Invgar looked like he was just carrying a large tree stump.

The girls were outfitted with small knives and dirks. Bera's was actually clutched a kitchen cleaver in one hand, but all of them had the staves.

"Well then let's see if you girls can use those little sticks." He had fully recovered from his shocked stance. Kiya placed her bow down on the ground and took the girls through a series of stances and moves.

It wasn't anything that would stop an invasion, but it was enough to show that they at least had the basics down.

~~X~~

Erak sat at his private dining room table looking as his lean brother in law across the table. It was true Skandian men, and if he were honest the women too, tended to be on the large side. And many Skandians judged people based on size. He smiled as he remembered the first time he met Halt. The man barely came up to his elbow, but how wrong he turned out to be when he just wrote him off as an annoying gnat. Well to be fair he was annoying but he was just as deadly.

"Has this ever been done?" Ajon finally asked.

Erak shook his head, "Not that I can remember. Well no, its never been done." There was no use trying to sugarcoat anything. "But then again there has never been a female brotherband in training either so many we could do with another shake-up." Erak stopped talking to drain his tankard. Once that was accomplished he got up to refill it. Nothing helped moved a conversation along like a good keg of ale.

"I'm not Skandian," Ajon said plainly. Like that wasn't obvious with his dark chocolate skin and close shaven head and clean shaven face.

"Gorlog's beard man I know that." Erak rumbled around the lip of his tankard. "But those girls can't wield battleaxes and there's no use even trying to train them. That girl of yours is doing a hell of a job with them, but she is in training too." He tore off the last leg of the chicken and shoved it into his mouth before reclaiming his chair at the table.

"Will the others accept it?" Ajon was used to still being treated like he was still a slave and he was not going to spend his days bowing and scraping anymore. He was a free man and had been for nearly 20 years. He was not going backwards.

"Sigurd and Gort think its a good idea. Those are the only two that matter. You won't be directly in charge of a brotherband, but you will be in charge of weapons and training for the girls. The other boys will be able to voluntarily take your class or not." He slide the chicken leg into his mouth and pulled it out smoothly. The bone glistened with cleanliness.

Ajon thought about it. Life in Burka was quiet and unfettered. He was close enough to the coast to get his jewelry pieces out on time and with relative ease. And business was good. He figured he had enough to live as good as Erak did in his Great Hall.

"Give me a week to go settle my affairs in Burka and I will be back." Ajon told him.

Erak nodded and leaned back in his chair to smile.

~~X~~

By the fourth day of training the girls had a nice routine going. They were first at breakfast and first back to the training ground after the morning meal. Kiya had convinced the kitchen staff to add more fresh fruit and carbs to their diet instead of eggs and bacon. At first many of the boys laughed at the girls eating bananas and apples, but when they saw that the girls were able to go longer than they were many of the boys opted to start eating what the girls were having. None of the Sharks did as Tursgud glared at any on his team even looking at the girls, but all of the Herons and many of the Wolves were.

Kiya was enjoying the navigation classes the most. She felt like there was so much she didn't know about sailing that she was a sponge for the information. Her father's people weren't sailors so they had only been so much she could learn from him and her mother died before she could pass on her knowledge. So while Kiya had the natural instincts of a skirl she needed to fine tune her skills. The only class that the girls were lagging behind was weapons. Even for the rowers it was hard to swing the battleaxes and lift those paving slabs they called Skandian shields.

Herdis had concocted a salve for muscle strain and after the first day she had to make a milk jub of the stuff for all the whining the Vipers were doing.

The only sore spot Kiya could see was Freya. The girl liked to buck Kiya's authority at ever turn just because she could and Kiya couldn't see a way to put her in her place without pissing someone off.

It was dinner time on the fifth day of training when Kiya got a surprise.

"Mind if I sit?" Kiya had been pouring over the current charts for the Toscan coast when she looked up into the soft brown eyes of Rolland. She squealed and nearly chocked on the apple juice she had been drinking. Rolland chuckled and sat down before Kiya recovered.

"Uh hi," Kiya said once she was sure her voice was going to come out. She wasn't as dark as her father, but she was dark enough that to see the blush creeping up her cheeks was a sight to behold. Rolland was surprised to feel his own face heating up.

"So um you dad is Ifrian?" He asked trying to find a way to eat his chicken without looking like a dirty barbarian. Kiya nodded wondering where he was going with this question. "have you ever been there?" Rolland had never left Skandian and after that invasion dust up he had been lucky his mother let him go to the town square as often as she did.

Kiya shook her head her pigtails swinging and almost slapping her cheek. "No. After my mom died she left Wolfstorm to her crew. They were willing to leave the ship to me and my dad, but we didn't think it was right to keep it. And Ifria is an island so there isn't a way to reach it by land. My dad has always wanted to go back and visit." She explained. "I want to go back too. See my dad's family. Meet my grandmother. She was a great warrior of the tribe." It was the first thing she wanted to do when she got her own ship. It was going to be her present to her father.

"Are all Ifrians girls as pretty as you?" Rolland asked and he instantly wanted to kick himself in the stomach for it. Kiya knew what he meant by the question, but it struck a chord that he didn't consider her Skandian.

"Oh um. I wouldn't know." Her voice came out strained. "I need to go." Kiya jumped up from the table and nearly ran out of the dining pavilion back to the Viper barracks.

Rolland was struck dumb at what he had done that could have caused that sort of reaction from Kiya.


	5. Don't let The Bed Bugs Bite

Kiya ran into the trees as the tears streamed down her face. She didn't want to be around anyone so running into the woods made the most sense. Once she was sure she was a fair distance from the training ground she stopped. It was a testament to the hard training that she wasn't even breathing hard.

She found a fallen log to sit on. Kiya didn't know why Rolland's question hit her so hard. She had been on the outskirts of society her entire life. It was bad enough that she was the child of a former slave couple that with being four shades darker than the tannest Skandian guaranteed that she would never blend in with her countrymen.

Kiya wouldn't trade her parents for anything in the world. Her mother had been a force of nature and all who knew her loved her. And Kiya loved her father with every atom of her being and he had it just as hard as she did, but he was a man. There was a social ladder that he could climb and earn a status.

Kiya was only as good as the man she married. If any Skandian man would have her. Not that Kiya had ever seen herself getting married and popping out strapping boys and timid girls. She just didn't see her future that way.

Sure she was in brotherband training, but how was that going to translate to the rest of Skandia?

"You alright?" a soft voice called. Kiya hastily wiped the tears from her face. The last thing she wanted was for someone to see her crying and make a crack about her being a girl. Or worse telling someone else that she had been crying.

She looked up and was surprised to see Hal leaning against a tree looking at her. "Yeah I'm fine." But she did move over so Hal could sit next to her. He pushed off the tree and sat next to her. She glanced at Hal remembering what she had been told about him. "Was is hard growing up here?" she asked.

Hall took his time answering. He knew what she was asking of course. He was a half breed as some liked to call him. His mother had been a slave as well. She had been bought by his father and made an honest woman. Though Hal was sure his mother was honest when she had been a slave. "Yeah it was." Hal couldn't be anything but honest with Kiya.

He could see her pain. It was something he had been feeling since he was old enough to understand his parentage. "They mean well. They really do its just what they are used to. Before the war you had Skandians and you had slaves. Slaves weren't even considered people. That's how life was. Now that Erak has done away with slavery and many of them went home, but most of the stayed. So attitudes are changing. Maybe not as fast as we would like, but they are changing." He nudged Kiya with his shoulder. "Give them a chance to come around." He offered.

Kiya sniffled and gave him a small smile. "I don't usually let that stuff get to me and Rolland didn't say anything wrong. Its just..." she sighed. "I guess I want to be seen as a Skandian you know." A breeze blew one of her pigtails into her face. She had to snatch it away from her eyes. She was really contemplating cutting all of her hair off.

Hal nodded, "I do too." It was nice for him to have someone to talk to about his feelings. It was hard for other people to understand where he was coming from. They just thought he would turn off those emotions and be done with them. He had been trying to do that his entire life. He was still working on that.

"At least you're a boy." she pointed out.

"Oh well thank you for noticing." he countered with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that. Of course you're a boy. I meant that you have more choices than I do because you have the necessary components." Her face burned when the words left her mouth. Hal gazed at her with a upturned eyebrow and quivering lip as he tried to hold in a giggle. "Oh Gorlog kill me now," she muttered.

Hal saved her a sliver of embarrassment with an easy chuckle. "So you've been looking at my components?" he asked.

Kiya turned to him with a look of horror on her face. "What! No!" Kiya sputtered. With all of her blushing Kiya was almost the same color as Hal.

"If you could see you're face," Hal laughed.

"You are a wicked one Hal," Kiya laughed and punched him in the arm.

Hal winced at her strength."Easy on the goods love. I want to keep myself looking pretty for you." Now it was his turn to blush.

He rubbed the back of his neck and was surprised that he didn't burn his hand from the heat his neck and face were throwing off.

They sat on the log in silence as they both scrambled for something to say to break up the awkward pause. Kiya looked off into the distance. She could hear the waves crashing against the break. It was the most beautiful sound in the world if anyone asked her. "Well aren't we a pair." Kiya said finally. She tuned back to face Hal and ran smack into his puckered lips. She squealed and jumped up from the log. "What the hell was that for." she asked.

Hal jumped up. "I thought...well we were...and then you said..." his face was reaching critical redness.

"I've got to go," Kiya turned on her heel and dashed back through the trees. She could hear Hal calling after her but she didn't stop. There was no way she could face Hal right now.

It felt like she had been gone for hours, but breakfast was just wrapping up when she stomped back into the dining pavilion. She saw Rolland stand up to intercept her but she spun around and headed back out of the pavilion. She couldn't face him with the ghost of Hal's lips still on her face.

She ran smack into Tursgud. He pushed her hard almost sending her sprawling in the dirt. "Watch it." he growled. Kiya was too distracted to even care about the dirty look he threw at her. She pushed past him to head back to the barracks.

"What is wrong with you this morning?" Herdis asked when she caught up to Kiya storming through their bunks trying to straighten up things.

"Nothing," she snapped.

Herdis folded her arms and fixed Kiya with a stare. "Don't you dare snap at me Ms. Starfollower." Kiya had the good graces to look shamed.

"Sorry," she threw herself down on a bunk. "Hal kissed me but I am pretty sure that I like Rolland and I think he likes me too." Is what she meant to say, but it came it "HalkissedmeinthewoodsbutIdidn'taskhimtooIlikeRoll andandIthinkhelikedmetoo." She had to suck in a huge breath to keep from passing out.

Herdis sat down on the bunk opposite her. "Well now. Aren't you a hot commodity." A little smile played at the corners of her mouth. "Two boys vying for your favor. That is quite an achievement I have to say. So you like Rolland who likes you too but just now Hal kissed you. Did you kiss him back?" She picked up her dirk and cloth to start cleaning it.

Kiya shook her head, "I don't think so. I mean I've hardly spoken two words to Hal. Do you think he likes me?" She had never had to deal with boy issues back home.

Not that there weren't boys she liked it was just she always had something else on her mind. While she still had things on her mind Rolland kept popping up.

"Boys are funny. They never really know what they want till they act. So maybe Hal does like you or he just wanted to kiss you." Herdis said. She ran her cloth down the length of her dirk. It wasn't a weapon she liked using. The idea of having to get that close to someone she was trying to hurt just didn't appeal to her. She was itching to get her hands on one of those longbows. That was a weapon she could get behind.

"Thanks now I'm more confused." Kiya blew her pigtail back out of her face. "Well its a good thing I've got training to keep me occupied. Let's go." She was right sick and tired of talking about boys and kissing. It was enough to drive her crazy.

The sun had barely been in the sky for a good hour and already she felt like she should be climbing into the bed and going to sleep. Trying to deal with boys was more tiring than the 5 k run they had started doing last week.

Who know boys could be so tiring.

The rest of the girls hadn't left the pavilion. They were catching on to the fact that Kiya liked to bet the other brotherbands back. Kiya caught Rolland looking at her and she gave him a small smile. His face lit up and his chest puffed out a little bit. That made Kiya blush.

"Look at you riling up the natives," Freya said as she noticed the byplay between Kiya and Rolland.

"Keep your voice down," Kiya hissed. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to hear and start teasing her or Rolland. Brotherband training was not the matchmaker's hut.

"Yes keep your voice down some of us are trying to teach." Sigurd called from the platform. Kiya threw Freya a frown before turning her attention back to Sigurd. "Today we are going to do things a little differently." He motioned with his hand. "We have a new instructor joining us today. Ajon Starfollower." Kiya started when she was her father stepped forward.

This was news to her.

Ajon caught her eye and gave her a smile. A few of the boys started to mumble. No one was surprised that it was the Sharks who were complaining. "First girls in brotherband training and now slaves as instructors. What's next?" Tursgud called out. The smile vanished from Ajon's face.

Kiya started to move forward, but Bera caught her by the arm. Kiya looked up at her with fury in her eyes but Bera wasn't letting go. She could see Kiya wanted to tear Tursgud a new one that might get her kicked out of training.

"Perhaps the young man would like to test himself against a slave. Put me in my place," Ajon offered easily. He stepped slowly down from the platform. Kiya had seen that look in his eye before. This was going to be good. She hoped her father hurt him good.

"Finally a little fun." Tursgud growled. A few of his Sharks clapped him on the back and gave him words of encouragement. They stepped back to make room for Ajon.

"Don't break anything he might need." Sigurd called.

"I won't." Tusgurd said.

"Wasn't talking to you fool." Gort called back.

Kiya saw a few coins starting to exchange hands between the instructors and even some of the boys. Kiya knew her father was going to toss Tursgud around like a rag doll and that though brought a smile to her face.

"Pick up your weapons boy." Ajon said. Might as well give the little upstart a fighting chance.

Tursgud was handed his battleax and shied by one of his Sharks. Everyone cleared the fighting arena for them. Now to be fair most of them had been mere toddlers when the Skandian war broke out so they grew up without the overt knowledge of slavery, but the old attitudes still lingered. Ifrians were still relatively exotic in Skandia so it wasn't hard for anyone to figure out that Ajoh had been a slave.

For most of the boys this was something of a life lesson, not that they were to know it just yet. But it was going to come.

Ajoh grabbed one of the staves the the girls had been working with. "A slave is going to beat me with a stick. Now that's funny." Tusrgud called as he dropped down into a pitiful looking fighting stance.

Kiya saw that he was trying to copy one of their practice stances. He was doing it poorly. Like a true Skandian he was trying to be the unmovable fighting figure.

"I see you are familiar with the crane fighting style." Kiya knew her father was teasing. It was clear from stance that Tursgud had no idea what he was doing. Ajoh circled around him.

Though Tusrgud was a fine physical specimen his shield arm was weak it trembled as Ajoh made no move to attack. And the crane fighting style was not suited to shieldwork.

"Are you going to dance around me all day?" Tursgud asked. Ajoh bared his teeth in a predatory smile. With a snakelike quickness the stave snapped against Tursgud's shield. Before he could recover Ajoh snatched at Tursgud with his Tiger's claw. He ripped the front of Tusgurd's shirt open. Leaving three deep lacerations down his chest. Tusrgud yelped and danced back.

A few snickers were cut off when Tursgud turned around to glare at them.

Kiya didn't bother hiding her smile. Her father was only getting started.

"You think you can watch my daughter practice and pick up the crane?" Ajoh laughed as he struck out with his stave. It caught Tursgud on the shoulder. The boy spun around before tripping over his own feet. He landed tail up in the dirt. "The great mother Oya taught us the martial arts. My family has studied for countless generations." Ajoh waited for Tursgud to regain his feet.

Tursgud growled as blood ran freely down his chest. He was too stupid to give up yet he wasn't out of tricks to play. He charged her father. Ajoh stood his ground till the very last second.

Instead of stepping out of the way he ducked down. He caught Tursgud around the knees. Using his forward momentum Ajoh pushed Tursgud up and over his head. The leader of the Sharks landed hard on the packed earth. The air whooshed out of his chest in a painful puff of air.

Ajoh turned around. He knelt down to peer at the boy. "That looked painful." He smiled. "Doesn't seem like the crane is doing you much good. Maybe we should try the bear style." Kiya couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled up her throat is she wanted to.

Ajon stepped back to patiently waited for Tursgud to climb to his feet.

Tursgud threw down his shield and the battle ax. "Ahh grappling." Ajon smiled. Kiya had to refrain from clapping. If there was one thing the Ifarians excelled at it was grappling and wrestling. The girls might have only been taught hand to hand combat of the crane style, but the goys learned martial arts as well as greco wrestling.

They circled each other once again. This time Tursgud was a little less sure of himself, but he was far from conceding defeat. He feinted left, but Ajoh didn't go for it. He hadn't been born yesterday. He was borne of a long line of warrior queens and he was not going to let this pup of a boy show him up. He kept his eyes locked onto to Tursgud.

It seemed Tursgud was now tired of the game because he bellowed into the growing daylight like a crazed bull. He dropped his shoulders and charged Ajon.

This time Ajon met him head on. The two crashed into each other with a resounding crack heard all the way back to the village. Kiya winched but kept her eyes locked on the battle. Ajon looped his arm around Tursgud's neck. He locked his arm in place and leaned back. Kiya recognized the sleeper hold.

"Time out." Ajon whispered. It took more than a minute for Tursgud to stop squirming. When he finally relaxed Ajon let his body slump to the ground.

Kiya jumped up and down clapping for her father's victory. Not that she doubted him for a second. There was a reason Ifria controlled the largest empire in the world. They were very adapt at fighting and winning.

"Anyone else want to join Tursgud in his nap?" Ajon asked as he dusted off his hands on his pant leg.

There was a furious nodding of heads. With Tursgud out for the count none of his Sharks were that brave and the Wolves were smart enough to see that Ajon though a former slave had a thing or two to teach them.

The vipers were just happy to see some sport. Their mothers never allowed them to watch the wrestling matches so this was another first for them.

"So training starts today. Who's first?" Sigurd asked. Every hand shot up into the air. Tursgud added a sleepy snort to the mix.


End file.
